Thanksgiving dinner with Aaron Schock at The Salvation Army

Among those serving up food to the needy at The Salvation Army on Thanksgiving was U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, along with a couple of staffers.

“I feel like I’m getting more than I’m giving,” the Peoria Republican said of the personal fulfillment people get out of volunteering to help those in need.

As a public official, he also said it was worthwhile to be out and interacting with some folks who wouldn’t necessarily be noticed by his office or make an appointment to bring their problems to Schock or his staffers. In this particular case, he said there was value in being able to see the human side of the problems many people are facing.

“When you meet them face to face and hear their stories” it brings the problems to life, he said.

It also serves as a reminder that “there’s no cookie cutter that fits every person who’s down and out right now,” and that you don’t have to go to less-well-off countries to see people in need or seize the opportunity to hend a hand.

I do always appreciate it when politicians don’t wear their offices on their sleeves or introduce themselves as “Congressman Thus-and-So” or “City Councilman Fill-in-the-Blank.” Many of those who were being served food by the 30-year-old didn’t look at him differently than they did any other volunteer there.

Indeed, that gave him a brief moment of anonymity in some cases, as not all the people there knew they were talking to a congressman, casually dressed as he was and youthful looking as he is. In one instance he was partway into a chat before the person discovered his conversational partner’s profession.

“My cover just got blown,” Schock said afterward with a rueful grin.

Make no mistake, these weren’t quick, drive-by discussions either, with a quick grip-and-grin for the cameras and a vague promise to look into things troubling these constituents. Schock sat at length with many people there — in one case talking with one fellow for upwards of 20 minutes — and when it became clear that some follow-ups would be necessary he quickly whipped out his Blackberry and began making notes to himself for when his congressional office re-opens on Monday.

When I left shortly before 1 p.m. — when Salvation Army staffers began to clean the cafeteria and take up the lunch tables — Schock was still going strong, nodding as a constituent made a point to him.

Meanwhile, the few hours of volunteering Thursday will stick with the lawmaker as a bit of perspective for “the next few weeks and months” at times when he’s frustrated or having a bad day to recall that there are people in far more dire straits than he’s in, he said.

(By the way, a little explanation from a writer here about my coverage choices. It was entirely intentional that Schock’s presence at the dinner was left unmentioned in the story appearing in Friday’s editions of the paper. In my judgment, he was working just as all the other volunteers were; his presence wasn’t relevant to the broader point of that story and including it would have detracted both from that purpose as well as his efforts and those of the other volunteers.)